Desensitize Your Dog to Fireworks

The 4th of July might be the worst day of the year for dogs. The sound of fireworks can be terrifying. If your dog is scared of fireworks, the fear and shaking they go through is heartbreaking. To help with this issue, we've added a new fireworks sounds as a reward cue.

Why did we do this?

Hopefully your dog will create a positive associating with the new firework sound as they earn rewards. We tried this idea with a doorbell sound and many customers reported less barking at doorbells, especially doorbells on TV. 

Will this work?

We honestly don't know, but lots of customers have asked for this feature so we wanted to give it a try. You -- the PupPod community -- has a huge impact on the features we build and this is another example of a community driven update. Please share your feedback in the comments, the PupPod Facebook User Group, or email us.

How close is the sound to real fireworks?

Here's the original sound. And here's what it sounds like in the toy. The speaker and acoustics in the Rocker aren't as clear and loud as your computer or smartphone, so please keep that in mind.

Can the sound volume in the Rocker be increased?

The short answer is no, but even if you could, it won't sound good. The audio component used in the Rocker doesn't have a volume feature and the speaker is only so good. We tried some engineering trickery to make sounds louder but we ended up with static and distortion. 

But this problem is even more complicated than just increasing volume, because making sounds louder also makes the toy less accurate. The toy has an electronic component called an accelerometer, which detects when your dog touches the toy. The "touch detection" accuracy is adversely impacted by louder sounds because increasing volume generates more vibration, which increases the probability that the accelerometer falsely identifies the sound as a touch.

How do I add the new sound?

Step 1: Update your mobile app. On iOS, version 1.0.3(235) or higher and on Android, version 2.0.302 or higher.

Step 2: Update your toy to version 1.7.353 or higher. 

Note: When we roll out a new update, we enable a growing portion of customers to update over the course of a few days, so that if there is a problem, we hopefully catch the issue before too many users are affected. If you don't see the option to update, you can email us or just try the next day.

How do I select the new sound? 

From the toy sound list, select Fireworks.